Preston Manning admonishes the Children of Alberta for abandoning the principles of Social Credit. Actual right-wing patriarchs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Manning and, speaking of patriarchs, the sainted Ernest Manning, Ron Paul, the crazy uncle of the American right, and Ukip Leader Nigel Farage.

Former Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, the crazy uncle of American politics, with some of his young acolytes at this weekend’s Manning Centre “Big Ideas” conference. Below: anti-medicare crusader Dr. Brian Day, a sign directing conferees to advice on how to sell their kidneys, and Mr. Manning himself.

– Public Interest Alberta takes a closer look at that province’s rhetoric about taxes, and finds that in fact most Albertans pay more income tax than they would under the more fair and progressive systems applied in other province: “Albertans who believe the myth that we pay the lowest . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links

I ridiculed the silliness of some aspects of libertarian thought in an earlier post, and planned to offer some balance by noting that their inherent suspicion-of-authority has played a big role in raising awareness of the financial crimes and improprieties of recent years. Alpha-dog libertarians are . . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: In praise of (some specific aspects of) libertarianism

For any analyst, covering this GOP Presidential Nominee race is a humbling experience. Almost everybody – myself included – has made bad predictions. It has been so wildly unpredictable and erratic experiencing swings up and down in the polls for almost every candidate. While the eventual winner, Mitt Romney, has long been relatively clear, exactly . . . → Read More: Progressive Proselytizing: The importance of fundamentals for a stable nomination race

I spent a bit of time growing up in the United States. I attended kindergarten and grades one to three and a bit of four in NJ and all of grade six near Portland Oregon. It is probably for that reason that I have enormous respect for our southern neighbours. With that being said I . . . → Read More: Canadian Soapbox: Americans can win back world respect by electing Ron Paul

A new chapter is being added to the ongoing Kochtopus saga. On March 1 the Washington Post, in a story sure to fill the airwaves for the weeks and months to come, revealed the Kochtopus is suing the Cato Institute for control of the recently deceased and former Cato Chairman William Niskanen's ownership share in the think-tank.

Ron Paul: There has been a lot of buzz recently about the fact that Ron Paul, while viscously attacking his other opponents, seems to give Ron Paul a free pass. And vice versa. ThinkProgress has a count which shows that Ron Paul has, despite 20 debates and 39 attacks on other candidates, has not . . . → Read More: Progressive Proselytizing: How the GOP candidates choose who to attack

Of the four(4) GOP primary candidates still standing, the only one I can even come close to listening to with a serious ear is libertarian Ron Paul. Now before everyone jumps all over the comments section with the “Ron Paul is no friend of progressives!!” stuff, yeah yeah, I get that, but I don’t have . . . → Read More: Ron Paul, Contraceptives & Abortion

As it often has been in the past, Iran was the principle foreign policy topic discussed in what may well be the last GOP Presidential Debate that we have to suffer through. If it is possible, the hyperbolic, warmongering rhetoric reached a new low. Additional debate comments outside of the . . . → Read More: Progressive Proselytizing: Iran and the CNN Arizona GOP Presidential Debate

Here’s the latest negative attack ad from the Ron Paul campaign slagging Rick Santorum for not being a “fiscal conservative”… (Seems to have been done by the same agency that created the tough-talking Ford F-150 truck ads.)